The Old Dutch Fort at Galle

Galle is Sri Lanka's most historical "living" city and at one time was the main port of Sri Lanka.  Founded by the Portuguese who discovered it after having been blown off course on their way to the Maldives, it was later taken over by the Dutch who built the fort.  Eventually Galle passed into British hands, but the Dutch legacy remains everywhere, especially in the street names.

Beaches and Fishing Communities of South Sri Lanka

Yala

We went to the Yala National Park and went on a safari.  We saw an amazing number of wild animals including baby elephants and a far off view of 2 leopards in a tree.

Sunrise at Ella

We got up early to watch the sun rise over the Ella Gap.  Ella is in a valley where you have a view to the coastal plain 1000m below.

Hill Country and Tea Plantations

We drove to Nuwara Eliya to see the waterfalls and the tea plantations.  Nuwara Eliya means "City of Light" and was the favourite hill station of the British.

Coffee used to be grown in Sri Lanka, but the plantations were destroyed by a disease and the people turned to growing tea instead.  The hill country is perfect for tea:  warm, high and sloping.

Kandy

We spent a couple of days in the mountains, in Kandy.  We drove around the beautiful town, visited a tea factory, the botanical gardens and the Temple of the Tooth.

Kandy is Sri Lanka's 2nd largest city - though you would hardly know it!  The people of Kandy were never conquered by the Portuguese or Dutch, but unfortunately Kandy fell to the British in 1815.

The Temple of the Tooth is right on the lake.  It houses Sri Lanka's most important Buddhist relic - a tooth of Buddha which was apparently snatched from the flames of Buddha's funeral fire in 543 BC and then smuggled into Sri Lanka in the hair of a princess.

A week in Sri Lanka

On the way back to India after the Christmas holidays we stopped off for a week in Sri Lanka.  Our first stop on the way up to Kandy was an elephant sanctuary.